Smile at Hope in the Name of Hope
by Destux
Summary: Here are my very late submissions for Kamunami Week! I might not update this in a very regular schedule seeing as I also have a very busy schedule to attend to. Hehe, don't expect any fics here to be longer than 4,000 words! Maybe there will be some but I can't guarantee anything since my brain tends to act up and defy everything I prepared.
1. Scattered Like Dead Leaves

Prompt 1: Hideout/Seclusion/A place only we know

Chapter Summary: No matter how far the leaves scatter from each other, a wind will always blow them to drift someplace else.

And by some random chance, a new leaf joins the other in riding the wind towards their destination.

* * *

_"Have you ever lived a life where everything remains the same?"_

That question was constantly revolving around her mind whenever she went to her school...

...Life _was_ hard when everyone you know was part of some group or friendship circle. Being alone can be quite bothersome sometimes too.

But what can she do about it really?

She is the ultimate gamer; video games are, like, her own special thing.

Thinking back on that question, maybe she really did live a life like that. It was the same thing every single day: wake up from that dreadful ringing of an alarm clock, prepare for the day, go back to her gaming cavern, and play video games until her battery runs out of juice. Of course, there was school as well but it was still the same thing; pass by a bunch of energetic people, greet them with a wave of a hand to remind them that she still exists, discreetly participate in some "girl's gossip", forget to eat lunch because beating Julius without the book of Naga was more important than her basic human needs (she thinks), trying to stay awake to make sure that the teacher in front won't chew her out for napping during class, and many more. It was too tiring to list every single thing that was constant during her daily school life.

Even with all that, despite her love for anything related to 8-bit and electronic, she was envious. She didn't understand it all. Why is it that every time she shares her hobbies with other people and gets excited about them, they shun her and look at her the wrong way, but when it's the _others_ who do that, they become happy and more sociable? To make it hurt even more, they called her weird and..._wait, what was that word again?_

Was it "Au-something"? Or was it "o-something-something"…?

…Well, whatever it was, it was very apparent that they do not share the same tastes that she has. It wasn't fair! Video games are awesome too, especially the retro games on those dated arcade machines! Sure, the new games look better on the eyes and have more gameplay features, but the oldies are worth remembering too! After all, they-

She stopped her mind ranting when she realized that she was almost crushing the buttons of her poor Game Girl Advance with her pent up frustrations. She softened her grip on the console and sighed before continuing her video game session…

…Alone, in the middle of some weirdly placed forest within the school.

Except that she wasn't technically alone, but the mysterious person whose gender is unknown due to their long luscious locks of hair and semi-feminine body shape and structure and semi-masculine business attire could've been mistaken as a non-existent person. They were sort of like the phantom in the scary stories that the teachers of their school retell to their students. They would make up a bunch of hogwash, like how this phantom would kidnap girls and boys and strip them of their innocence or that this phantom would steal the souls of its unsuspecting prey and use the empty husk as fertilizer to expand their hunting grounds, to keep them away from this suspicious-looking forest.

Those were all fake. She knows this for a fact because this stranger never made any attempt to do anything inhumane to her like in those scary stories. She even goes to this forest during the same time every school day to skip her afternoon classes to play video games in solitude and yet she manages to escape unscathed and unbothered.

But whatever; as long as it keeps those *mean* people away from her then it's fine…

…She's long given up on the hope that maybe she could convince them that video games are fun and that maybe she could finally have a gaming buddy for once. She didn't need to be reminded of how socially incapable she is or how bad she is at making simple conversation while trying to keep the topic strictly off of anything about games every time she opened her mouth.

Just like right now when this enigma of a person decided to start the conversation after her 14th visit…

"Are you not bothered at all with my presence?"

Well, she was now, albeit for a different reason. That voice would NEVER fit for a woman, or so she thinks. It sounded masculine, bored, but most of all...

...She really liked the way it sounded, so much so, that that voice compelled her to stop completing her FE4 playthrough.

Yeah...beating Julius can wait...

Pocketing her Game Girl Advance, she spoke in a soft slow tone. "Oh...so you're a boy..." she cocked her head to the side. "...Are you though?"

"I can surmise that you are a socially awkward person and that you do not have a single friend prior to your first visit to this place. How boring..."

"Rude..." she muttered under her breath while pouting childishly at his blunt remark. She couldn't deny that fact. She just wished he sugarcoated it. The truth was still a critical hit to her self-esteem. Well, at least he was straightforward about it, unlike _some_ people. "…How about you- umm…"

"Kamukura Izuru."

"…Kamukura-kun," she continued. "Don't you have any friends?"

"I do not possess the luxury of companionship nor will I ever intend to."

"Why?"

"Even if I had "friends", nothing will change. Simply making "acquaintances" is a task too pointless to take…"

The girl before this long-haired man felt bad for him. It was just too depressing to think that this person who has not bothered anybody else and living in solitude in this forest has not made friends, but enemies because of idle gossip. She wasn't sure if he realized this but if he didn't…

…It scared Chiaki just how much she can relate to Izuru. It was almost as if it was possible that she could end up like this aloof guy who seemed to have considered this compact yet peaceful thicket of trees and bushes as his new home. She's…

No. She can never say that she's lucky that she didn't turn up like him; especially when she already had a taste of being shunned by the others but not to the point where people actively tried to convince their connections to avoid her. They still avoided her; it's just that, they want nothing to do with her…or so she thinks.

Her eyes fell towards the irregularly-shaped weight on the pocket of her jacket. She let out another long sigh of longing. If she had known about this beforehand, she would've brought an extra one so that they can play together. Who can blame her, really? No one could've expected two loners to suddenly start talking to each other- well, maybe he did, but then again, it was him who decided to talk; he was the unpredictable one here.

_There was always tomorrow, right?_

She stood up from beneath her shaded spot and brushed off the dirt from her skirt and jacket. She looked at the red-eyed man who was still perched on that same area beneath another tree and waved her hand at him, bidding the other a curt "See you tomorrow". He didn't return the gesture but she didn't mind that.

Her new quest for tomorrow was to gain her first friend and to be his first friend. She still believed that there's hope for the both of them.

_We'll find a way to escape our forests together, Kamukura-kun._

* * *

Here's my late submission to Kamunami Week and an excuse for me write some Kamunami to relax my brain for a bit. On second thought, maybe this won't do the trick but hey, I finally decided to give some attention and care to one of my most favorite ships in Danganronpa!


	2. Feelings That Blossom Like…

Full Title: "Feelings That Blossom Like Blooming Flowers"

Prompt 2: White Day/Confessions

Chapter Summary: A lot of things change as time passes; either the world grows more boring or more interesting.

Surprisingly, even when you stay in the same place for a long time, things still manage to get more interesting.

* * *

A/N:This is meant to be treated as a continuation of Scattered Like Dead Leaves but it can be treated as a separate fic in itself. I still recommend you read my first prompt for greater effect.

I hinted at some seriously dark topics in this fic. I tried to make it as vague as possible so just proceed with a naïve mindset since it doesn't affect the overall story that much. Just a warning for all you people with wild imaginations out there...

* * *

This was the 120th time she visited, spending a grand total of 600 hours, 57 minutes and 46 seconds of her time in this forest - exactly 480 hours of those, approximately 79.87% of her grand total, were spent on playing video games, losing every time they played.

"One more game, Kamukura-kun!"

"I was so close..."

"Again, Kamukura-kun!"

This girl was hell-bent on beating him, and no matter how much and how hard she tried, the result was consistently and constantly the same.

Another pointless win for this fruitless game...

"I'll get you this time!"

"It's this round, for sure...!"

"I'll...win this time... Kamukura-kun..."

And another…

"C'mon…just one mo- awww…"

"This is super difficult…"

"Another…perfect victory? How?!"

And another…

"_**Again**_."

"_**One more**_."

There was even this one time where she never talked for the whole period and had her screen stuck on the character select menu until he selected his character. She wasn't normally like this, but that's what made it the more interesting.

Even with all these repetitive things they did, he never found a reason why he should deny this girl of her incessant request of playing video games with her. At the time, he chalked it off as a less boring way to pass time. It did keep his mind off of unnecessary thoughts. It kept his fingers moving, even though all he had to do was to input over a thousand strings of code and commands to pull off one victory. Admittedly, she has quite proven herself to be different from the rest, in more ways than one.

Often times, he would find himself gazing blankly at the girl's intense expression on her face as she was trying hard to beat him even though his eyes were off his screen. He could still see her screen from the corner of his eye but he only chose to sneak in quick glances before focusing a big chunk of his attention on the gamer beside her.

On some of those moments, her eyes would twitch to the left and their eyes would meet for a few milliseconds. Hers would instantly return to the screen and she would reprimand him for not taking their game seriously.

"I would still win regardless."

Her scorn intensified as she visibly glared at her console instead of him. With the girl approaching her boiling point, the Game Over screen was just the last push she needed for her to finally relent. He predicted that after her 11,037th loss against him, she would finally realize the futility of it all.

And just when he was starting to enjoy their time together too…

…Looks like it was just too much to hope that this girl would finally be his light to color this rather gray world painted by his nihilism.

"Have you finally given up on trying to attempt the impossible?" he decided to humor the forlorn gamer a little by gloating on one victory over his numerous others.

"No! I-" she tried to deny his trick question but the words died on her mouth before she could continue. "…I'm sorry, Kamukura-kun…" she said while bowing her head in between her legs as if she was trying to hide from him in embarrassment.

Now _that_ was an unexpected response. "What are you apologizing for? All you did was lose against me multiple times. Except for the fact that you keep demanding me to play with me, you have committed no wrongdoing against me."

His face may have not shown any hint of emotion but something stirred inside his rigid soul. He quickly identified this stirring feeling inside him as "concern". By observing a lot of people, he could accurately assume how "being concerned for others" felt like. After all, this feeling "passed" every criteria he had as a rubric to identify whatever emotion he felt, no matter how minimal the impact was on him.

There was just one problem though.

He _**shouldn't**_ be concerned for this girl. If he did, then he would nullify his role as an observer of this world. He was talented - too talented. Acting to change the balance of fate would render the fruits he would reap from his labor as boring.

A new and foreign emotion was birthed from inside him having realized that. The emotion grew even stronger as he saw the girl sitting beside him stand up and wander towards the exit of the place with her face shadowed by the bangs of her unkempt hair.

"…I have to go… I'm sorry again, Kamukura-kun… I just…" she stopped talking and just sighed before resuming to leave him all alone in this forest once more. "…Nevermind."

He watched her leave.

He heard her sob quietly and yet he did nothing about it.

Was it because he didn't know how to comfort her?

Was it because he deemed her as too boring?

Or was it because he was too _**scared**_ to act upon it?

Izuru stood up and proceeded to snap a tree in half with one roundhouse kick, sending splinters of wood outwards like the pellets from a shotgun slug after firing it and creating a gust of wind with his kick that blew all the dead leaves around him away. The dislodged upper part of the tree flew deeper into the forest, scaring every avian creature within his vicinity. He noticed that his breathing was more erratic - more rushed than his normal heart rate.

The realm of logic shattered into utter impossibility. _This_ girl was what caused him to feel this way? A boring girl who does nothing but play video games, affected him in such a way that he did something out of his predefined parameters of what is ordinary?

It was illogical.

No, it was…_interesting_.

Chiaki Nanami was…interesting.

Not a single person has ever made him feel more "frustrated" about revealing his "feelings" towards them.

After calming his nerves, he sat back down and perched himself on the newly-created stump that he just made. He decided to have a change of pace for tomorrow.

This time, he would be the aggressor and not the appeaser.

* * *

"Can I just sit here? I don't feel like playing games with you today…"

This…was not part of the plan. She looked even worse than her normal messy presentation; her jacket was more crumpled up, more strands of hair were poking up - a sign that she had neglected to brush her hair, but her eyes…

_Dilated pupils, bloodshot and teary eyes, uncoordinated movements, nystagmus… Is she…?_

No, it was an unlikely possibility. He knew for a fact that she wouldn't fall THAT far. In his diagnosis of her, he spotted no recurring mental illnesses and mental illnesses didn't happen to pop up unexpectedly after a day.

The scenario he had in mind was that this girl would get over her losses and be back to normal for today. He would seat by the base of the stump and wait for her expectantly and then he would tell her his feelings about her once she arrived, expecting to play with him the whole afternoon.

Nevertheless, this change of scenario wasn't enough to throw a wrench to his plans. She was here and that was all he needed.

"Nanami, there is something I must discuss with you."

He saw her tense up in trepidation and gulped while looking at him with weak pitiful eyes. "…G-Go on…"

He obeyed her command and continued. "I doubt that you noticed this, but I have developed some interest in you. Of all the people that I have observed, you are, by far, the most interesting out of all of them. The others, they were boring - unremarkable with no distinct qualities that pique me." He paused and waited for her reply. Since none came, he resumed talking. "I plan to explore these "feelings" I have for you in more detail; however, I need you as my partner. It is not necessary that you should be my romantic partner, but it would be better if you were. Do you understand what I am trying to say here, Nanami?"

She looked as if she was at a loss for words. "I…I…" was all she managed to blurt out.

"It appears that you do not. Very well," he said as he fought the urge to let out a sigh. "I shall explain it to you in one sentence."

This is the moment of truth.

No time for hesitation. No time for doubts.

All he has to say, are those six words and leave the rest to chance.

"Nanami Chiaki, _I am in love with you_."

After he said those words, the forest around them had seemed to have quieted down to the point that even he could not hear anything. He gauged her reaction to his confession. He analyzed every outcome to this and prepared himself for both the possibilities of rejection and acceptance. He shouldn't be "nervous" about the outcome and yet he "feels" that he _is_. The same can be said for the other as well. She seemed too nervous - afraid, even, to react to his confession.

After some moments of waiting in silence, he finally caught a glimpse of her reaction. Tears began to fall from her eyes and her fingers were itching to do something other than to grip the dirt on the ground. In one quick and sudden motion, she flew at him and wrapped her arms around the unaffected man.

"I…I love you too, Kamukura-kun…! I don't want to lose you! You make me happy just being here with me! I…I want to be…your partner…!"

Her words broke off into choked out sobs and jolted heaves as she let all her tears do the talking for her. Although, he could not see her face with the way she buried herself deeper into his body, he assumed that she was happy about his confession to her despite the fact that when people cry, it tended to be associated with grief, sadness, turmoil, etc.

_So this…must be…"happiness"…_ he thought to himself. _…Interesting…_

His arm mindlessly moved on its own and wrapped itself around her clingy body, rubbing her back with his hand with one repeated up and down motion. As soon as his hand made contact with her back, a memory last September that he discarded flashed in his brain.

_"…Since we didn't formally introduce ourselves yesterday, I'll start us off. My name is Nanami Chiaki and my birthday is at March 14. Nice to meet you! How about you?"_

_"I do not see the point of repeating what I said yesterday just for formalities' sake but fine. My name is Kamukura Izuru and my date of birth is what people celebrate as the start of a New Year, or in other words, January 1."_

_"Ah! We have another similarity, Kamukura-kun?!"_

_"Another? I fail to find anything worth noting that can even be remotely considered as a similarity between us."_

_"Our birthdays are both holidays!"_

_"Aren't you surprised at all, Kamukura-kun?"_

_"These facts do not matter to me in the slightest. They are boring. Why should something as superficial as a coincidence surprise you and, most especially, me?"_

_"Coincidences don't surprise you at all…? Well, I guess I can agree with you to a degree but it's not everyday you meet someone who celebrates their birthday and a holiday at the same time."_

_"And yet I do not find them surprising nor do I care at all."_

_"Sooner or later, you might regret not caring about these things, y'know…"_

_"Your foreboding words mean nothing to me. I do not see the purpose of remembering the boring intricacies that people consider important to themselves."_

Having remembered that conversation during her 15th visit to this forest, he started to connect all the dots. Yesterday was March 14, her birthday and White Day, a holiday where men are supposed to give back chocolates to their significant other as a sign of gratitude for their gifts during Valentine's Day. Naturally, he knew how significant yesterday was for her but he never bothered to greet her since he still didn't care about what yesterday was…

…Until now, that is.

Having known her full situation and the circumstances she was in yesterday, that might have been the reason why she was frustrated and left with a sad note yesterday.

No one greeted her a happy birthday and no one returned her gifts of chocolate to her.

Surprisingly, she managed to surprise him yet again. Her foreboding words may have been nothing at the time, but now, it came back to bite him. This was a mistake he needed to rectify at once. If he said that he was, indeed, in love with her, then he would need irrefutable decisive proof of his love.

And in order to do that, he would need to bake her a chocolate cake.

Standing up, he pulled the girl who was still clinging on to him up to her feet. An expression of surprise colored her face from the abruptness of his actions. "Come with me, Nanami. There is something else we must do."

"Kamukura-kun…? I don't understand… We're leaving this forest now?"

"We are. Something important came to mind. You shall know everything once we arrive at our destination."

She nodded at his response and followed him out of the forest and towards the bright new world out there.

He already knows what's going to happen. The future was fairly obvious but if it was with Chiaki, Izuru didn't mind.

She truly is the most interesting person he's ever met in all his boring life.

* * *

A/N:Have ALL the angst!

I know I ended the fic prematurely but I'd rather leave it to your imagination instead. It's more interesting that way, don't you think?

Like you know... maybe Junko suddenly comes crashing in with a truck and runs over Izuru?

Or maybe Nagito somehow pops up unexpectedly and causes a fire?

Who knows?

By the way, I _may_ have made Izuru a bit OOC in this fic but then again, things change as time passes, right?


	3. Sandbox Simulator Tutorial

Prompt 3: Training/Understudy/Apprentice

Chapter Summary: How does one teach a destroyer to create?

It may seem difficult (and destructive too) at first but it's actually fairly simple. All it takes is some patience…and more patience.

* * *

A/N: Oops, sorry for being late. I was busy during the weekend writing a 5-page response even though it only needed to be one page.

Amazing how I managed to juggle two big projects like a madman, right?

* * *

STARTING UP…

STARTUP SUCCESSFUL. NOW LOADING NEOWORLD_3.CHR AND NEOWORLD_4.CHR INTO NEO WORLD PROGRAM…

* * *

_*yawn*_

Is it time for work already…?

She thinks not. The sun wasn't assaulting her eyelids yet.

Doesn't hurt to check…probably.

Opening her eyes, Chiaki looks over to her left and sees the numbers 6:00 plastered on her alarm clock and a pair of red orbs that glowed on top of it, staring at her from beyond the dark. Just as she thought, it was still too early for work. She decides to get more sleep for the time being…

SHUTTING DOWN NEOWORLD_3.CHR…

SHUT DOWN SUCCESSFUL.

* * *

He should have expected this. After all, it was her most notorious yet intended design flaw in her programming to make her more human.

His older stepsister wasn't one to fulfill promises, both for important and unimportant purposes. Even with her notoriety for repeating that shameful act, it would never fail to disappoint him. His frown deepened after checking the program's command log to see that she started her shutdown sequence just mere seconds after he programmed the both of them to wake up at this hour just in case she forgot to set her built-in payload to execute her loading sequence.

If only Usami or Alter Ego would trust him enough to give him the admin privileges for this program, then he would block her from entering that damned command to go back to sleep. Along with his disappointment, he was starting to feel annoyed by her lethargic nature and the unfortunate circumstances that put him in a Catch-22 of sorts.

He can't wake her up without those privileges but he can't get those privileges without waking her up.

No, scratch that. It was an actual Catch-22…

How boring. How _annoyingly_ boring.

_Well, two can play that game, Nanami._

With an angry glint threatening to show behind his bright red eyes, he continued this childish brother-sister fight with his stepsister to achieve this victory.

* * *

NOW LOADING NEOWORLD_3.CHR INTO NEO WORLD PROGRAM…

* * *

_*yawn*_

Is it time for work already…?

She thinks not. The sun wasn't assaulting her eyelids yet.

Doesn't hurt to check…probably.

Opening her eyes, Chiaki looks over to her left and sees the numbers 7:00 plastered on her alarm clock and a pair of red orbs that glowed on top of it, glaring at her from beyond the dark. Just as she thought, it was still too early for work. She decides to get more sleep for the time being-

"**Attempt the shut down sequence one more time, and I will not be so merciful on your next awakening**." she heard someone threaten to her in a familiarly monotone voice.

"Destroyer…?" she sat up from her bed and looked around the dark walls that surrounded her. "…Is that you? Where are you?"

Suddenly, the red orbs moved and she felt someone grab her arm and pull her out of the bed with quite some force. Disoriented from the sudden movement, she stumbled forward and bumped into something warm and…hard.

With a flick of a switch, the room lit up and she just realized that she spawned inside her own cabin from the Neo World Program version of Jabberwock Island.

However, just before she could fully analyze the situation in front of her, her AI brother opened the door of her cabin and signaled for her to follow him. This was probably important if he had bothered to wake her up early in the morning when her other siblings were still asleep at this time, so she mindlessly followed him out of the cabin and into the artificial world that was still a bit dark.

* * *

"Hey, brother?" she started while struggling to keep up with her physically superior companion. "You seem…angrier than usual. Is everything alright?"

"We've arrived." he flatly stated, ignoring her concerned question for her dear brother.

She approached the other and stared into the space that he was gazing at. She saw a huge chunk of data ripped out of the world, creating an endless blue void of numbers and strings of data. "An empty space? That's weird… We made sure to repair everything that the virus corrupted in this program, right?" A scary thought crossed her mind and she couldn't help but feel afraid and shameful about her failure. "This is bad… Did we…fail to completely remove _her_ from the program?"

"It was I who created this void."

She paused to load up her response. "…Oh…ok. I forgive you, brother."

Even though she was shorter than him, that didn't stop her from standing on her toes and patting the pouting boy's head with her hand repeatedly.

That's…how an older sister treats her younger brother, right?

"Stop treating me like a child just because you were created a month before me."

"But… you're my younger brother…"

"And I am not a child. I am more knowledgeable, less forgetful and wiser than you. If anything, I should be the older sibling."

She's pretty sure that's not how this works… she thinks.

The still-sleepy AI turned back her head over towards the gaping blue hole on the middle of the beach. "…So, why did you make this void, Destroyer?"

There was something morbidly insulting about what she had just asked that bothered her to no end.

"Weren't you going to teach me how to properly create a world?"

She looked back at her brother then back at the void again. Her eyes widened slightly from the new information that pinged on her HUD. It was just then that she had realized what she was supposed to do today. She then opened the program's command prompt and spawned in two of her sister's magic sticks.

Two of Usami's staves with the two mirror images of a heart's shape framing a pair of white wings that was topped with a red jewel spawned in front of the siblings, just barely teetering on the edge of the endless oblivion of blue hell. They then hurried over and took their respective staves before taking a step back just in case they lost their footing and fell to a world of no return.

"Be wary of where you spawn objects at." said her brother in a scolding yet blank tone.

"I'll be more careful next time…" she paused. "…Maybe."

"That's very reassuring."

Brushing off that attempt at humor that fell flat on its face, Chiaki cleared her throat and tried to make her best Usami impression for her not-so-little brother while waving the staff around as if she was a teacher. "Alwight, Destwoyer. Wet's stawt with the bwasics, owkay?"

She was immediately disheartened after failing to make her brother smile, even if all she wanted was just for him to smile a little bit. She was enjoying this but seeing that callous expression on his face told her that he wasn't and didn't care one little bit.

Despite her disappointment, she continued. "...To cweate a squawe, just dwaw a squawe with youw Mwagic Stick wike this..." She did exactly as she had instructed and created a two-dimensional transparent square. "...Now, you twy, Destwoyer!"

The more unimpressed of the AIs followed her demonstration to a T, but instead of creating a square shape, he created a square-shaped vortex that floated mid-air. This vortex started to pull more and more chunks of data from the beach that they were at, making the large hole on the beach even larger than it was before.

Without hesitation, Chiaki immediately closed the vortex by creating another square shape to fill it. She looked at her brother with sad eyes.

It was going to be difficult to fix this mess, explain this same mess to her older siblings and teach him how to create simple objects that aren't suction holes, all in one day. It was definitely possible(maybe), but in order for her to do all those, she had to skip work. She'd be in a lot of trouble if she disobeyed the Future Foundation's orders.

_"Don't make promises you can't keep."_

She underestimated her brother's talent too much. She knew that he was super intelligent and that he was an incredibly fast learner; after all, he was created by the former Ultimate Hope. It's just that, her brother is a World Destroyer, true to his name, and creating things completely slipped his creator's mind in the heat of rushing things. To get him to create objects is akin to rewriting his whole program, which was something Chiaki couldn't do… for now, at least.

There was…an easy solution to this predicament, and that is to leave it to him to fix his own problem.

Of course, she didn't want to take the easy route.

So she'll do whatever it takes in her own power to help her brother out. It'd take a miracle to fix his problem, sure, but…

_…if I just do it, things will turn out okay!_

"Ok… let's try this again…"

This time, she ditched imitating Usami's voice and used her own.

* * *

From dawn to dusk, the two siblings remained at the beach, making a mess out of the sandy landscape with countless endless pitfalls and vortexes around the area. There were large scorched areas, craters, ravines and even whirlpools at their vicinity. This would take around three days to clean up…

"This isn't working." stated Destroyer matter-of-factly. "I cannot create these simple objects no matter how hard you try to teach it to me."

Chiaki let out a tired sigh. "…Yeah," she lightly set her magic stick down on an area untouched by her brother's touch of destruction. "You're right huh, Destroyer… I guess…I can't help you."

"On the contrary, you did help me."

She made a surprised, "…Huh?"

"Until now, everything I tried to create spiraled to unrestrained destruction," he pointed towards the blue chasm of nothingness as an example. "Without you, I would not have been able to control what I can create."

To demonstrate, he used the magic stick to create a circle on the sandy ground of the beach. After he traced the circle, the whole world shook and a perfect cone sprouted from the ground. This cone resembled a volcano to her. However, he wasn't done with his presentation, it seems. He charged up power from the staff and concentrated the surge of energy into a beam then pointed it towards the base of the landmass that he just created. The volcano erupted violently, shooting out an incredibly large geyser of molten material into the dark sky as the bright orange fireballs rain down from the crimson red ashen smoke clouds on the twilit blanket above like it was raining fire.

His sister stood by his side and gazed in awe at the semi-artificial meteor shower that he demonstrated. She was impressed. This was far better than what she can create.

"…I don't know what to say…" she muttered. "…I really don't. I mean… I guess I'm proud of you, brother."

Then the most impossible thing happened.

He _**smiled**_. "Thank you, sister."

That slight upturn of his lips was enough to satisfy her. She gave her own smile, relaying a "You're welcome, little brother" to him.

Without a worry in the virtual world they were in, they continued to play in their little sandbox until it was time for them to clean up.

* * *

A/N: Have ALL the fluff!

I'm betting you 10,000 monocoins that you won't like my next few entries.


	4. Friction

Prompt 4: Transformation/Resolve/Courage

Chapter Summary: Despair does not truly settle in until you figure out that there's no hope in the road ahead.

An unfortunate occurrence befalls the two star-crossed lovers and their love is put through the ultimate test.

* * *

T/W: Very graphic depiction of scenes and crude language ahead. Please proceed with caution.

* * *

There they were. The two people destined to face each other. The one holding a foil clad in her slightly torn white silky dress and donning a headpiece that looked like the top of a white queen chess piece was trying her best to put up a "brave" face; while the one who was holding a bloodstained saber clad with a dark robe and wearing a crown that resembled the top of the black king chess piece with its rim outlined by lines of red that mirrored the crimson eyes glared at the other with cold harsh murderous intent. It was almost as if that cross on the crown was stabbed into his own head, hence the lines of red from that seemed to flow from his illusory wound.

The ugly scene of the carpeted and checkered throne room floor decorated with the bodies of the former's dead friends was created by the latter. The pungent stench of their rotting charred carcasses was enough to sicken Chiaki to the stomach. She couldn't look away from the man she was facing either, lest she had to see their pained and anguished faces for the nth time.

It was too cruel - too horrible to make her remember her dear friends who tried to protect her with this mangled deformation forever etched into their faces.

Everywhere she looked was just a painful reminder for how she failed the person she held close to her heart.

Peko, Nekomaru, Gundham…

…Izuru…

_…Why...?_

_Why...did this have to happen?_

She searched the dark recesses of her mind to find something, _anything_ that is a happy memory for her. Slowly, those memories deteriorated into soot the moment she reached out her hand to grasp her only means of solace.

All she could remember was that mistake they all made for being too complacent…

* * *

_Hidden Route Discovered!_

She imagined that tune pinging her as she and her companion, Izuru, escaped into this decrepit dungeon that was filled with vines and other signs of overgrowth.

It all started with an ambush from that nefarious sorceress. Makoto, Kyoko, Mukuro, Gundham, Peko and Nekomaru all told her and Izuru to find another way towards their target while they stayed to distract the horde of Monokumas. There were some Monokumas that slipped past and tried to pursue the two, but it was nothing both Izuru and Chiaki can't handle. Their versatility and expertise with might and magic destroyed their pursuers and left behind a trail of whatever remained from those unfortunate beasts.

Obviously, that meant that not a single trace was left to identify them.

They continued to wander around the underground dungeon with a torch in hand. She trusted her companion to lead them towards their enemy. A major plus for taking this route was that it was quiet and there were no signs of ambushing forces. The huge downside to this was its creepiness factor that constantly whispered to her, _"This is a bad idea. This is a bad idea."_

She shrugged those thoughts off. How could she not trust Izuru after all the trials and hardships they faced together? Time and time again their ideals and friendship were tested by that despair maniac and they persevered. They were there for each other in their times of need, like brother and sister; though in this case, it's more like a father-daughter relationship. Despite his overprotectiveness, she understood why he was like that and tried her best to adjust to her aloof partner. She actually loved him better like that. That made him more reliable and less likely to betray her.

Her daydreaming thoughts were immediately diverted to the current situation after Izuru blocked her path with his arm. "Wait. Someone is approaching."

"Upupupu… Looks like Kamukura-senpai finally noticed me!"

Predicting where she would appear, Izuru instantly unleashed a wave of pure energy behind them. A figure was hit and a cloud of smoke filled the halls of the dungeon from its halved body, encircling them in a thick haze.

She saw his eyes widen in surprise while she was still in a dazed state from how quickly the eerie silence turned into a surprise boss battle. Amidst the confusion, an echoing witch's laugh exploded towards their ears.

"Forgive me, Chiaki."

"Izu-"

The roar of countless Monokumas were heard before she saw an intense light emanated from Izuru's body and lost consciousness.

It was only now she realized that it might have been probably too late to save him from Junko's clutches.

* * *

"…Nanami-san!"

"W-Wake up, Nanami-san!"

Chiaki felt her body shake and was instantly awakened. As she regained her bearings, she saw all six of her friends surrounding her with very concerned faces.

"Thank the Gods you are safe!" bellowed Gundham.

"Yeah! You almost made me lose my shit here and there!" Nekomaru added.

She drowned out all their voices and focused on something that was missing from them. Her included, there should be eight of them that were sent to raid this castle and eliminate Junko, or at least capture her as requested by the two Byakuyas who were their generals responsible for their plan of attack. The others were busy defending their land from the nigh infinite number of Monokumas that invaded them. Someone had to strip Junko of her power to put an end to the endless horde that zeroed in on their land.

Even so, she felt like she was forgetting someone. Someone important…

_"Forgive me, Chiaki."_

…Then it all clicked.

"Izuru!" she shouted. "Where's Izuru?!"

Makoto crouched near her and placed a hand on her shoulder, trying his best to placate her. "Ikusaba-san…" he swallowed his spit in hesitation. "…Couldn't find him. She went down there to check. We even asked her to double check but…"

"We have to assume the worst, Nanami-san." Mukuro interrupted him "I couldn't find his corpse anywhere."

"C-Corpse?!" she flinched from the implications of that word. "H-He's not dead! He can't be dead! Izuru, _**DEAD**_?!"

"It's not out of the realm of possibility, knowing how cunning Enoshima is." Kyoko replied. "Either he's dead or worst case scena-"

"Stop! I don't wanna hear any more…" Chiaki covered her ears and tried to remove the image of Izuru's body being mangled into a bloody mess by countless Monokumas from her mind. It's wrong. It's all wrong. She knows he's still alive and yet Mukuro herself couldn't locate him in that dungeon. Well, someone who's MIA is different than dead, right? So that means, there's still the hope that he managed to escape the dungeon!

The shaking girl finally calmed down and stood up from the pillar she was leaning on. She turned to her friends and looked at them with a grave expression. "We have to find Izuru. We only know that he wasn't found by Ikusaba-san, right?"

"But what if he's dead, Nanami?" Peko replied with a question of her own.

"Still…" the fact still bounced around her head despite her attempts to deny it fervently. "…He could be alive… I think…"

"Then let's find out." Makoto joined Chiaki's side. "We need to believe in hope, everyone!"

Kyoko sighed but joined them as well. "…I still think that that's a naïve conclusion, Naegi-kun, Nanami-san. But yes, I won't deny that the possibility of him being alive is plausible, though it is imperative that we make haste in finding him."

The others were soon rallied by Chiaki and Makoto in finding the truth about Izuru's whereabouts. It didn't need to be said that when everyone was united under a common goal, nothing could stop them.

…On second thought, maybe it was better if Izuru was dead.

Because the next thing they saw after opening the doors towards the throne room was Junko, seating on her throne like an undignified evil empress, with the man they were searching for standing by her, eyes glowing with an even brighter and more intense red than she remembered.

"Izuru…?" Chiaki couldn't hide the excitement and joy from her voice upon seeing him. "You're alive! I knew you were-"

Gundham, Nekomaru and Peko all looked at him with animosity and blocked her from rejoining her estranged friend. They withdrew their weapons and prepared for an offensive from the sorceress.

"Hoho! We are pleased to make your acquaintance!" exclaimed Junko, standing up from her throne and looking down on them like they were mere peasants before her. "Do you lowly worms wish to join us in our crusade for despair?"

"Think again, empress of Despair!" bellowed Gundham, igniting both his hands with a dark fire to threaten the two. "If you assume that we would submit to your fallacious ideology, then I shall brand you with the fires from the seventh circle of the Inferno!"

"You think I give a flying fuck about what you say?!" Junko yelled out while changing her expression. "I'm Junko fucking Enoshima! Try me, bitch-lover!"

Izuru then stepped in between the sorceress and the seven people as the ambient animosity in the room increased tenfold. The man in the middle furrowed his eyebrows deeper while Chiaki saw the familiar fire burning his irises away into a black outline.

He was going to attack her friends.

He was going to attack her.

Suddenly, she froze on the spot, unable to warn her allies of the blaze he would unleash on all of them if they didn't get out now. However, it wasn't by her own will that she refused to speak. Junko silenced and paralyzed her with a zap. She struggled as she was forced to sit by the sidelines and watch as Izuru silently prepared his attack.

Junko's control over Chiaki was immediately broken as Mukuro somehow teleported behind the sorceress like a ninja and sealed her power by touching the back of her neck. The former tensed up in surprise and screeched in terror. Immediately after, Chiaki shouted and attempted to cast her shield upon her friends.

She was a second too late, for Izuru expected this unexpected turn of events and incinerated the throne room with a breath that matched a dragon's. Chiaki managed to protect Makoto and Kyoko who were behind her as she stood her ground against his incredibly intense attack.

"Do It now, Naegi-kun! While he's distracted!"

"Got it, Kirigiri-san!"

The blazing eventually ceased. With some tired breaths, Chiaki released her shield and noticed that there were only five of them in the throne room now. Whatever Makoto and Kyoko planned might have something to do with that, she thinks.

But that's besides the point; three of her friends were treacherously balancing themselves on the fine line that divides life and death.

One by one, they were executed by Izuru by impaling their gut with his saber. They were too injured to retaliate against him and the moment they did, well…

She couldn't move. Not because of some paralysis spell or anything of the sort, but because she was literally too scared to move a muscle. She knew that Izuru wouldn't do this to her friends. Of course he wouldn't.

Which made it all the more shocking to witness him do such a heartless act…of unnecessary bloodshed and unjustified murder. This wasn't the Izuru she knew. He wouldn't stab them and watch as their blood spill out everywhere from the wound before being thrown to the sides like a toy that has lived its use.

"Izuru…" was all she managed to choke out while trying to avoid the horrid sights on her sides. "…Is this…really…you?"

"…" He faced her with a blank expression on his face before rushing towards her and unleashing a flurry of thrusts from his sword towards her. On instinct, she withdrew her foil and tried to deflect his many attacks, but his sword made some tears and rips on her skirt and left behind several cuts on her arms and managed to graze her left cheek with a cut that stretched as far as her cheekbone went. She had to cast a force spell to gain some distance from Izuru and to calm her racing heart.

He was too far gone already. Never has he tried to hit her with such relentless malicious intentions. It was almost as if he was trying to kill her- no, maybe that's what he was trying to do all along.

Was there no hope for him left? Was there no way to save him?

Does one of them really need to die in order to leave this room?

There has to be another way. She had to believe that he was still in there…somewhere, just waiting for her. She couldn't let things end this way. She'd rather die first than to kill him. That would mean that she gave up on trying to save Izuru from whatever was making him do these terrible things.

With a deep breath, she infused her newfound courage with her foil and looked at him straight in the eyes despite the tears from the painful sensation of her wounds being opened further every time she stressed her muscles to move.

* * *

_Izuru… please come back._

She matched his strikes hit for hit. Neither gave the other time to use a magical spell unless they risked suffering a wound that would decide this battle. As they danced around the room, a couple of explosions were heard from outside the throne room. The ground shook with such intensity every time it did, making Chiaki lose her footing before parrying Izuru's downward slashes. She was running out of time and she knew it. Eventually, her body would give up and he…

…No, she'll worry about that when they get there. She has to think of a way turn this battle towards her favor quickly.

The ground shook again after a couple of fireballs hit the walls of the room. She lost her footing once more and Izuru lunged in for the killing blow. She dropped her sword and pulled Izuru towards her, not looking down at the gristly wound at her abdomen and trying not to scream from the burst of pain that seared through her body. Because of this, he kept the grip on his saber tight and plugged in her body. Her legs gave out and used all of her upper body strength to pull the other down and listen to her final words.

"Izuru…" she said, shakily with some labored breaths following each syllable. "…If…you're still…in there, please…come…back."

His mouth didn't move but she could feel the blade move around from inside her after she said that.

There was another round of explosions from outside. This time, it was more violent than the previous ones and the ceiling threatened to collapse on top of them. However, neither person cared about what was going to happen to them.

"I know…you're probably mad at…" she coughed up blood, her internal hemorrhaging finally activating. "…me…for not…helping you…back then. I'm sorry…Izuru."

More blood came out of her mouth the more she tried to maintain her grasp on the boy's shoulders. She could feel the life fade out of her body. It was tempting to succumb to her wounds and just sleep for all eternity, just like she always wanted, but she can't give up just yet. Not while Izuru still needs her to be back to normal again. Her time was ticking down.

_I don't wanna die..._ she repeated to herself as she pulled him closer to her cooling body, making him plunge the sword even further into her abdomen until the guard was pushing against her stomach. She felt every inch of the cold steel of the blade touch her insides. _I-I don't wanna die...!_

She cried into his shoulder and stained his robe with her tears, thinking that this senseless act can save them both.

**No forgiveness for this endless love.**

She poured the last of her tears and strength into him in hopes of bringing the Izuru she loved back.

**My goddess never looked at me.**

Her world was starting to lose its light and all she can see is his blank face being marred by the moisture in her eyes. She forced one last smile and muttered to him, so that he and only he can hear alone, "…I…love…you…"

"…Izuru…"

The last things she sensed as she fell into a deep slumber were one last explosion, the sight of the sky falling down on her, a warmth enveloping her cold body, and the taste of blood on her lips.

* * *

A/N: Yep, after listening to "Ga1ahad and Scientific Witchery" and "Friction", both of which are by Mili, I had this idea in my head once I took a look at the prompts for Day 4.

So, I took the definition of the word Transformation and twisted its definition around!

As you can tell, this is incredibly rushed as I set a deadline for this series to Tuesday to see how much I can pump out for a week or two. My goal is to have at least 7 entries for Kamunami Week and seeing as I have around 4 days left to make 3 fics, I'll have to make some changes to my original plan hehe.


	5. Sanguine

Prompt 5: Comfort/Appreciation/"I'm here for you"

Chapter Summary: Amidst the pink haze of illusions, she reaches out a hand to pull him out of his thoughts even with everything he's done to her.

What lies beyond the other side of this trick of the eye?

* * *

T/W: Minor blood and dark topics ahead. Proceed with caution.

A/N: Please read my previous entry, "Friction", first before proceeding since this contains spoilers for that fic!

* * *

Colors splash on the calm waters, creating a ripple on the calm medium. Something solid turned to a thin layer of liquid. The colors continued to melt and made a vibrant mess of five different hues of paint; although, the waters seemed calmer than usual when the drops have settled on the viscous concoction.

He was unimpressed with the results. This abstraction merely served to obfuscate his reflection when he gazed on the waters. If this was an attempt on making him gaze at "art", he would critique it as "too boring", but so was everything else in this lake surrounded by tall trees.

What surprised him, however, was when he felt slender fingers brush over his back. Was he so immersed with staring at this lake that he forgot that danger lurks at every corner of this swamp? He stood up and looked behind him only to see more trees and the hot pink sky overhead. He saw nothing that resembled a hand that touched him even though he tried to gaze into the patterned environment of lines.

"Over here, Kamukura-chan!" beckoned an all-too-familiar voice. He quickly traced where this voice came from and looked back towards the lake, only to notice a little girl grab him by the sides of his robe and attempt to gain his attention by pulling on it. "Wow… So soft! I want one!"

When he titled his head down to see the innocent child rubbing her cheek on the black robe he donned in glee, he furrowed his eyebrows deeper. Why would she want one when she already has another robe made from the same type of material? "What is it?"

The girl ceased her childish actions and looked up at the man. If he looked carefully, he noticed that the moment she did, he swore that she grew a little taller and her body was slowly morphing into the woman he held deep affections for. Her mouth opened in surprise as if she remembered something important. "Follow me, Kamukura-kun!"

She ran eastward and into the thicket of Sakura trees. He supposed he had nothing better to do and simply followed the child without a second thought. Admittedly, it would be bad if she managed to got lost in this swamp so he naturally made sure to never let that happen.

When he entered the maze of trees and falling cherry blossom petals, the girl started to run away from him and giggle like a child. "C'mon, you slowpoke! Keep up!"

That insult was obviously wrong. He knows that he can catch up to her in no time when he decided to take this wild goose chase seriously but that would make things immediately boring, so he decides to give himself a handicap and pretend that she was the one winning this game while she frolicked around the scenery with no clear direction in mind.

Interestingly enough, he experienced a slight sense of nostalgia from this activity, as if he had already done this same exact thing with someone else…

Wanting to examine this interesting sense of déjà vu further, he continued to follow the little girl who now turned to a teenager for some irrational reason. Soon enough, he began to share the same excitement she had in frolicking in this swamp while tidbits of familiar scenery played in his head.

_"Catch me if you can, Kamukura-kun!"_

_"This is boring. I can catch you before you can even take 5 steps."_

_"Awww, come on, Izuru-kun! Why won't you take this more seriously?!"_

_"As I have told you, time and time again, this is boring. I am getting quite bored of this repetitiveness."_

_"Y-You mean… you don't enjoy playing with me anymore…?"_

_"As illogical as ever…"_

_"I fail to see why you think this swamp is beautiful. These cherry blossom petals do not match with the vibe one gets in a swamp."_

_"Well, just because it doesn't make sense doesn't mean that it loses its beauty, Izuru. Don't you think this would be interesting for you?"_

_"…I suppose so. Strange occurrences can be appealing to the senses as well…"_

Before he even knew it, he was seating beside Chiaki in front of the lake he was staring at before the little girl interrupted his musings. He still didn't know who that girl was even though he had a feeling that he should. He let that mystery slide off his mind and continued to stare at the boring lake once more.

"They seem like blossoms," she spoke with a wan smile. "Yet…"

"…Yet they are just illusions of snow…" he continued her observation without thinking about his response.

There's that strange sense of déjà vu again. He felt like he had this conversation with her recently; if only he could just pinpoint exactly when…

"…It's still pretty nonetheless, right Izuru?"

He didn't answer her question, expecting that she would know how he would respond by now. Instead, he focused his attention on the person he was more interested in that anything else, Chiaki. She noticed this and met his gaze with a serious expression.

"What are you still doing here? Shouldn't you be someplace else?"

The strange sensation ended when she had asked him that and he remembered why it seemed so vaguely familiar.

_No forgiveness for this endless love._

That's right… this was the last time they visited their playground before they went on their mission to raid Junko's fortress…

_My goddess never looked at me._

…Before he mercilessly impaled her with one of the swords given to them for their servitude.

With one frightful explosion, the blast tremor shook his dream world and the illusion he was trapped in was finally broken. Although he was disoriented by the sudden change of scenery, he still heard her voice, in two different versions.

"…I…love…you…Izuru…"

**Please don't ever forget, that I'll always be there for you.**

**No matter what.**

The rubble from above descended upon them and by instinct, he siphoned some of Chiaki's remaining energy by kissing her and shielded them both with what little he had left. Boulders of concrete and marble broke through the forcefield he casted and he felt excruciating pain course through his spine as he fell deep into the bloody kiss. Even with his desperation for more energy to strengthen the forcefield, he was careful to leave some to keep her barely alive.

The downpour of boulders ceased eventually and he broke off the kiss with a heavy pant. His back was in so much pain and that pain would increase a hundredfold every time he tried to move.

Still, he had one last thing to do, as repentance. He planned to save her from the brink of death. The others would not be able to make it in time if he decided to wait.

With one swift pull, he removed the saber that was plugged in her body and hastily tossed it aside. It felt like someone was constantly hitting him on the back with a mace. He tried everything in his utmost power to shake those sensations off. This was truly an interesting challenge for someone like him...

…Was what his old self would say. This was different. He _had_ to save her.

After that he crawled over her body, placed two of his hands over the fatal wound, and healed her with a spell. This would ensure that she would be brought back to normal, but at a heavy cost. This cost would've meant nothing if Junko hadn't weakened him. Now, he was just as mortal as a man in his fifties.

As Izuru used his life energy to rejuvenate Chiaki, he felt the strength he had once leave his body as well as the injuries he sustained from protecting her becoming even worse than before. It took all of his willpower to push through this handicap and ascertain her recovery.

"I will not make the same mistake again..."

After some time, he stopped at the exact moment he judged it would be enough for her and rolled over his back to lay down on the carpeted floor. He looked over his left with the last of his strength and gripped her soft hand tightly as a ghost of a smile brushed over his lips in satisfaction of the knowledge that he had successfully saved her. He then closed his eyes…

Death? It was something he never considered once. His hubris that came from his analytical talents would tell him that he would live a long life. It was as if it was set on stone already. People with less human connections tended to live a longer life, unless their sanity fell victim to the effects of loneliness. Obviously, he didn't care if he lived a life where he was alone neither if he lived a life with numerous human connections. Life would still remain as mundane as ever.

With the life he'd lived, he didn't mind dying for a petty reason such as saving someone else less significant than he is. No, Chiaki is a woman destined to bring life to this desolate world. He can say this with absolute certainty because she was the one who brought life and color to his.

Life was jolted back into him as he heard frantic footsteps approach them. It had looked like they made it just in time.

How boring…

He remembered what he had said to her during that last visit.

_…Strange occurrences can be appealing to the senses as well…_

He wondered if those illusory blossoms symbolized this convenience.

* * *

"…AH!"

Chiaki suddenly woke up from her bed with a loud shout and heavy breathing, thinking that that battle with Izuru was all just one horrible nightmare. She looked down under her blanket and lifted her shirt and saw no scars on her body. She let out a relieved sigh and plumped her head back on her pillow. Even though the memory was still fresh on her mind, she was thankful enough that the sights of her three dead friends were all fake as well.

If she looked to her right now, she would look at his handsome face and be reminded once more that it was just a bad dream…

…But he wasn't.

The space on her left was noticeably empty and clean, like there were no signs of anyone sleeping beside her recently.

No… maybe he just woke up earlier than she did. Like always.

Stretching her limbs until a pop on her bones were heard, she kicked the blanket off her body and donned that same silky white dress that should have had tears around the torso and sleeve region. It was pristine and clean - untouched. While she was freshening up, she saw a piece of paper on the dresser that she and Izuru shared alongside with many other things in this sweet home by the swamp. Curious, she picked the paper up and read it in silence.

_"I shall return in a week."_

She slowly placed the paper back to its original spot in dejection. At the very least, she was thankful that he left a note for her just in case she was wondering where in the world could he have gone to. However, the fact that he never stated the reason why bothered her. She decides to trust that he has a very good reason for his leave and left their home.

* * *

A week didn't take very long when people were immensely happy to see you up and about like nothing bad happened in the first place, because something DID happen.

The news eventually arrived to Chiaki. The shock of hearing it after three days was even greater than the shock experiencing it first-hand. Her friends told her the whole story and she did not like it one bit. She was incredibly furious at what Junko done to her friends and that she killed herself in an attempt to bring Makoto and Kyoko along with her towards the afterlife. It turns out, that evil sorceress brainwashed Izuru as an exchange for losing her own sister as a pawn to use.

All her friends were glad to see that she was alive, most especially her old classmates. Due to the fact that she was the only one from that class who was sent to that excursion and survived, they were thankful. She knew that they kept the topic about Izuru out of their remarks of happiness. Apparently, they didn't take the fact that he murdered three of their friends too greatly, as opposed to the news that she fought him and managed to live through it. They didn't bother to ask how she survived; they were just happy to know that she was alive.

The whole week was full of joyful celebrations and sad funerals for the people who lost their lives from Junko's attack. Because of this, it took her mind off of Izuru and what he had done to them for a while, only for it to come back and fill her with scary thoughts a day before his fateful return. As dusk drew closer on the sixth day, she refused to leave their home and basically holed herself up under her blanket, quaking in fear and disgust in herself.

All of this could have been prevented had she been more careful. Peko would've lived. Nekomaru would've lived. Gundham would've lived. They all would've returned, happily hearty about their triumph over despair and their loved ones wouldn't have to be plagued with the reality that they were gone… forever.

She frantically wrapped herself with the blanket. Words and phrases of how useless and weak she was attacked her incessantly as she shivered under the blankets. She swore she could hear her dead friends chant monotonously at her while they tried to unravel her cocoon and drag her out of the bed.

"No! Please! I'm sorry! I'm sorry!"

**"YOU SHOULD HAVE DIED."**

**"WHY DIDN'T YOU SAVE US?!"**

**"COME AND SUFFER WITH US, NANAMI."**

She desperately struggled to keep herself covered under the sheets - trying to hide the ugly mess that was her. The invisible hands that were trying to expose her now became more frenzied. She could feel them actively hurt her by assaulting her with slaps and punches like a bunch of people beating up a little girl while she covered her defenseless body in vain. She wailed and sobbed as they continued to decorate her body with bruises. As this was all happening, she could hear that same bewitched laugh that took Izuru away from her play in repeat.

She couldn't take this anymore.

She couldn't take this anymore.

She can't take this anymore.

With one last scream, she bursted out of her covers and ran into the swamp in the middle of the night and refused to return.

* * *

Izuru finally returned from his quest to recover his power. He went through rigorous training and soul-searching to be brought back to his former glory, which ranged from bathing under cold waterfalls to obliterating hordes of iron golems with various weapons.

He strolled through town and luckily, he came across no one. As soon as their house came into view, he briefly stopped in his tracks when he noticed that the door was left open. His eyes squinted and saw a set of human tracks with his improved vision leading into the swamp from their doorstep. Careful not to disrupt the tracks, he snuck into their household and searched for anything that looked out of place if someone other than Chiaki made the biggest mistake to intrude on their private property and pilfer something from them. So far, he found nothing of the sort, but that was until he stood in front of the door to their bedroom that was wide open.

An alarm set off in his mind. This wasn't some simple act of thievery. It was possible that someone stormed into their house with the intention of assassinating her while she was alone. He mentally cursed himself for not taking precautionary measures and disregarding her safety, thinking that he could trust that she could handle herself. The deed might've already been done too...

He angrily stepped into the bedroom and the mess that was made in there confirmed his suspicions. Someone did attempt to kill, or at least kidnap her, while she was asleep. There were signs of struggle all over the room. He surmised that the attacker snuck into their room by the window and failed in trying to subdue her without creating a mess, possibly forgetting the fact that she was a trained soldier for battle which made her notice their presence. Since the closet door was ajar, he initially concluded that she immediately went for the weapon stashed in there to defend herself from her attacker. He was proven wrong upon seeing that the weapon was still inside. Perhaps, she was simply panicking at the moment and completely forgot about the weapon she had and opted to use the nearby objects to disarm the culprit, as evidenced by the broken objects scattered all over the wooden floor, or that she actually did go for the weapon but the culprit prevented her from doing so and created this mess in a struggle to gain the upper hand.

After the investigation in their room, he immediately went for the swamp and followed the tracks. From the state of these imprints on the soil, he deduced that these were made late at night or around midnight. Naturally, attacking at night was an optimal strategy to use when attempting assassinate someone or purloin something from a household.

The tracks led to that familiar lake that was smack dab in the heart of the swamp. At the end of the pathway, he saw the form of a girl that looked like she was violated, lying motionless on her side on the ground that curved inwards to the perimeter of the circular body of water. He carefully approached her and examined her body to check if she was breathing. As he had hoped, she was still alive, but she was in a state of distress and trauma. Her eyes were wide open and her expression was blank while her body was noticeably trembling. Everything about her was all in disarray: her clothes, hair and short skirt.

"Chiaki," he called out to her. "What happened while I was gone?"

She was unresponsive.

"Chiaki," he repeated. "What happened while I was gone?"

Still unresponsive. He went for physical contact. She visibly flinched and whimpered at his touch. He repeated his question once more. She answered this time albeit in a strained voice.

"…I'm sorry…I'm sorry…I'm sorry…"

She sounded like a broken record to him. He didn't quite understand the logic behind her apology. If anything, he should be the one apologizing to her…

…How could he forget? She tended to act out of her own emotions and never failed to find a reason to blame herself for anything bad that happened to her friends. It was always like her to take responsibility for actions, even those that she hadn't directly influenced, just like a responsible leader or a doting mother.

He sighed and picked her up from the ground. As soon as he did, she slowly latched onto him like a sloth that hugged their trees. He supposes he can find out what happened later after he was done calming her down.

"It is fine now. I'm here for you. I'll always be."

He decided to act out of his emotions as well and opted to use contractions in his manner of speech, all the while gently caressing her back to calm her soft sobbing. The swamp's famous snow began to fell and created the illusion of cherry blossom petals falling on them as he wandered around the forest for a little while longer with Chiaki who was now gently snoring near his ear.

Indeed, they were still pretty nonetheless.

* * *

_A/N:_

_*slaps roof of fic*_

"This bad boy can fit so much f*ing despair and angst in it, it'll make Junko cream her undergarments!"

Kidding aside, this is my attempt at a Kodaka-Level plot twist. Did you really think I'd hit you all with a simple ending? Oh no no, I wasn't done torturing Chiaki just yet!

So yeah, I could have just used the last part of this fic and submitted it instead but I didn't want to end this story on a tragic note.

Instead, I'm saving that bad ending for another fic that I'll be working on in the near future.

By the way, I love making a lot of obscure video game references from the same underrated game and I put three - two in my previous entry and one here. Can you guess them?


	6. Never a Dull Moment

Prompt 6: Secrets/Barriers

Chapter Summary: They say that one has not truly lived until they've had a close encounter with death, but what if death is taken out of the equation?

The answer is, don't think too hard about it. Sometimes knowing that you exist is enough to live.

* * *

T/W: Gets a little serious or philosophical midway. Read with an open-mind.

* * *

There were all kinds of people strolling around the park: people by their lonesome selves, people with their families, people with their friends, people with their significant other, and even people with other species of organisms serving as their companions. One thing they all had in common was that they were strolling and not sitting idly by a bench that seems to blend in with the slightly nauseating amount of green in the area. They weren't observing what the others would do in a park; they were carrying on with their respective lives per usual.

Which made one of those two said observers think, if they were truly living or not.

At first, the destroyer AI thought that life is a collection semi-natural phenomena, designed to attract interest and curiosity to observe its variation or unchanging trend, depending on the observer's intended scope for examination. Each data he recorded was immediately deemed crucial information, yet even with how crucial it is, what would that serve him in the long run? What happens when he finally gains all the knowledge he requires about this abstract concept, if it was possible? How can he apply such impertinent information in his new set task to "live a good life with Nanami Chiaki" if every second he "lived" his "existence" was dedicated to freeing people from their unrealistic dream worlds?

He was told by his creator to just march towards the future with high hopes. Obviously, his creation wasn't satisfied with such a vague answer, with the exception of his companion; she took that answer as the absolute truth and her first experience in the outside world left her completely stricken in awe and amazement. She was a child tasting the life outside their sheltered habitat, but so was he. Except for the fact that he quickly discovered some similarities between this world and the worlds he destroyed, his first experience, too, was the most memorable. He was fascinated by what this world had to offer and sought to gather as much information as he can.

As for the other…

She didn't care one bit. She took it all in stride and was intent on gathering information as she goes along this new "life" that was given to them. She was less vehement than he was in acquiring knowledge.

Even so, based on his observations, her lifestyle was the closest thing he could compare to "living". She was content with what was given to her and enjoyed every second of it just by partaking in her acquired hobbies, which was playing video games, without a care in the world; while he was…

…Sitting, on this bench, with her…

…Purposeless, aimless, and without a unique and engaging activity to participate in…

…They seemed the same towards the others, yet he felt separated from them…

…Was he truly living? Is life just one big Gordian knot to untangle?

He felt a weight lean on his shoulder and heard the very familiar snores of his companion. One quick glance to his side and he already deduced that she fell asleep during her gaming…again.

"…Mmmm… pew pew pew… zzz…"

A twitch tugged at his cheek upwards as he gazed upon her heaving chest as she continued to murmur gibberish while she was asleep. That was when he stumbled upon a realization. He wasn't exactly purposeless. There was something he could dedicate himself to doing to "live" his "life".

He averted his gaze from her and towards the same people living their happy lives.

They may not be "living" the same way the others do, but if there was one thing they had in common with them, it was that there was never a dull moment in their lives.

* * *

A/N: "What's this? A short fic?"

Well, I wanted to write something less serious yet serious at the same time while trying to keep the word count down. I have a small habit of doing that, sorry.

My original plan was for Prompts 6 and 7 was to have them be read back to back, just like what I did for Prompts 4 and 5. I decided to put my grand idea in the back burner for now since I didn't want to get to repetitive with the angst and I really didn't feel like writing another long piece. I've had enough long reports and analyses to write in my life.

So, I went with this bite-sized fic between World Destroyer and Chiaki! As evident in the way I portray their relationship, I like to think of them as inseparable siblings who care for each other. Like if you see Chiaki at this place, there's always a guarantee that World Destroyer is lurking nearby, watching your every move to make sure you don't do anything funny to her…

_*shudders at the thought*_

Now, there's only one more left to make and it will be my final submission for the final(?) Kamunami Week.

Woah! That got a little depressing! I promise it won't be as sad as that!


	7. You Snooze You Lose?

Prompt 8: Together/Teammates/"I won't leave you"

Chapter Summary: Just another late night gaming session between two lovers while one of them manages to fall asleep in the middle of their game.

* * *

A/N: Decided to skip Prompt 7 because my submission for this prompt is redundant to my submission for Prompt 4.

* * *

"…zzz…"

Tired from an all day long session of "work", the sleepy gamer began to power down and sprawl her limbs all over the couch. She then drifted into a land of 8-bit action-packed fantasy. However, she wasn't alone in her dream world. Apparently, she was being accompanied by a strange man who looked almost like her boyfriend - he looked very serious, very handsome, and was always wearing that prim and proper black suit that affirmed that serious aura that flew around him like those red squares around his head. Speaking of which, his head was the only thing that seemed different to her while everything was more or less the same. She tilted her head and stared intently into that protruding spike on his head as the other met her stare in shared silence.

With curiosity guiding her, she approached her boyfriend's imaginary twin brother and gave him a once-over, pivoting around the still figure. His eyes followed her every movement as if she was the one who was being observed and not the other. Indeed, he definitely looked and acted like Izuru… or so she thinks.

"…I don't remember seeing you around here, Izuru…" she said, still staring at his serious red orbs. "…I think."

He blinked. "I am not the Kamukura Izuru you admire. I am someone else entirely birthed from your fantasies of him."

Her eyes widened at that. Her immersion on this pseudo reality was destroyed. She suddenly realized that she was lucid dreaming. If what he said was true, then some part of her is telling her that she was in a dream with her idealized version of her boyfriend. Some dark part of her wanted to deny that fact and stay immersed in this illusion, completely blind to the reality that this was just a dream and that this Izuru wasn't technically Izuru.

With that being said, she now hated this dream world she was in and woke up in the real world where she liked it better. With a yawn, she rolled over to her side and was temporarily blinded by the TV screen's flashing lights. After rubbing her eyes for a bit, she looked once more at the screen and noticed the two characters on it that were fighting another group of characters in a war. Her eyes bulged in horror and with cold lightning striking her back, she quickly sat up from the couch.

"Izuru!" she shouted at the long-haired boy sitting beside her playing the game with two controllers. "Why didn't you wake me up?! You started the teamfight without me!"

Without looking back at her, he said, "Nonsense. We will not lose this skirmish. Watch."

"That's not the point, Izuru!" she argued, distressed and annoyed. "This is a co-op competitive game, not a single player game!"

He ignored her and proceeded to decimate the entire enemy team with just the two characters in their team. He controlled both his and her character with the two controllers, each hand dancing around the object with inhuman speed, dexterity and accuracy. The enemy team was just down to their two best members while the two solo fighters were critically low on health, just barely managing to survive. Izuru planned to stall until their allies would come to the rescue. It was only after they died that they arrived and began to clean up the battlefield, thus securing another stunning victory for their team.

"Gimme that!" she angrily snatched her controller back from her boyfriend while pouting and hunching her back and glaring towards the victory screen that displayed on the screen.

"Are you angry at the fact that we were the only ones who weren't alive when we won?"

"No." she fired back, coldly. "I wanted to play in that teamfight and you didn't wake me up, you jerk."

"Had I woken you up," he quickly returned. "It would have taken quite some time before you adjusted to your surroundings and we would've died by then. Our teammates would then not be able to defend their push towards our base. I had to take this matter into my own hands to secure us a victory."

She made a growling sound at his answer. "**I don't care.** I **still** wanted to play even if it meant that we **lose**." she finished with a harsh tone and emphasized on some parts of her reply. "I thought that you understood that games aren't just about winning or losing?"

He stayed silent after that. After an uncomfortable minute of silence, he set his controller down and turned towards the still pouting gamer. "I apologize, Chiaki. It shall never happen again."

She released a breath she didn't realize she was holding and tried to smile at her boyfriend. Honestly, she can't stay mad at him for more than a minute. "…Ok, I forgive you, Izuru. Let's just play another round, alright?"

He curtly nodded and they started another round together. Sure, it was another astounding win for them but on these matches where they played together, it felt more special, making the victory well-earned. It wasn't that long after when Chiaki dozed off again right after their third victory tonight. Izuru took the initiative to turn off the system and carry the sleeping beauty towards their room and tuck her in for the night.

* * *

A/N: Well, I guess that's it, huh...

Sorry if this seems worse than my other submissions and I suddenly feel bad for ending this series with a lackluster fic, hehe.

No, I definitely did NOT rush this. I just wanted to end this series with something that isn't serious for once. This was just a simple shower thought that I had.

To all of those who read all my submissions, thank you for taking the time to read them and leave some kudos and nice comments! I really enjoyed making these fics. I'm not gonna lie, I tend to get a bit sad at endings, especially when the journey getting there was memorable, hence this fic. Although I'm kinda disappointed at the lack of activity my works are getting, I continue to write since it's a passion I never really tapped into before. As stated in the summary of my previous entry, "Sometimes knowing that you exist is enough to live." Knowing that I shared what my mind can conjure without oppression nor the fear of backlash can be quite relieving.

With that being said, I bid this series and Kamunami Week adieu. :)


End file.
